Help us Create the World’s Biggest Bird Feeder!
An international effort to create possibly the largest ever supplementary feeding effort is underway - and its occurring at the Pukorokoro Miranda Naturalists' Trust's sister site, Yalu Jiang National Nature reserve in Liaoning China.
The coldest winter in 49 years has led to the die-off of one of the most important food sources in the reserve, clams.
Some of our birds are there and some are on their way. It's a 10,000 km non-stop flight in which they will lose nearly half their body weight. The reduced food supply means there is going to be a lot of competition.
The majority of NZ's godwits use this site, feeding on some shellfish, but also worms. 25% of the global great knot population uses the mudflats and rely almost entirely on shellfish for food. Yalu Jiang is an internationally important site for 15 species of shorebirds. They are all going to be hungry this year.
The ambitious solution?
A bird feeder. A bird feeder kilometers long and wide, with farmed shellfish dropped over the mudflats to feed the birds.
As well as saving the birds this year, we can also learn so much about providing safety nets for them. The mudflats of the Yellow Sea are being destroyed through reclamation and, increasingly more common, extreme weather events. This year we can learn new techniques to manage these migratory birds.
What's the real impact if we don't fix this?
For godwits we aren't quite sure yet. We would expect the population to decline - 5%? 10%? It will really depend on what those 70,000 - 80,000 great knots do when there aren't shellfish to eat. Will the great knots start to eat the godwits food sources? We do know that there will be a larger impact on the endangered great knots. We're worried their population will drop by more than 10% in just 2 months.
Time is of the essence. Birds are arriving now. Help us help them
The coldest winter in 49 years has led to the die-off of one of the most important food sources in the reserve, clams.
Some of our birds are there and some are on their way. It's a 10,000 km non-stop flight in which they will lose nearly half their body weight. The reduced food supply means there is going to be a lot of competition.
The majority of NZ's godwits use this site, feeding on some shellfish, but also worms. 25% of the global great knot population uses the mudflats and rely almost entirely on shellfish for food. Yalu Jiang is an internationally important site for 15 species of shorebirds. They are all going to be hungry this year.
The ambitious solution?
A bird feeder. A bird feeder kilometers long and wide, with farmed shellfish dropped over the mudflats to feed the birds.
As well as saving the birds this year, we can also learn so much about providing safety nets for them. The mudflats of the Yellow Sea are being destroyed through reclamation and, increasingly more common, extreme weather events. This year we can learn new techniques to manage these migratory birds.
What's the real impact if we don't fix this?
For godwits we aren't quite sure yet. We would expect the population to decline - 5%? 10%? It will really depend on what those 70,000 - 80,000 great knots do when there aren't shellfish to eat. Will the great knots start to eat the godwits food sources? We do know that there will be a larger impact on the endangered great knots. We're worried their population will drop by more than 10% in just 2 months.
Time is of the essence. Birds are arriving now. Help us help them
